


Episode one: Maiden Voyage

by jiminthestreets_bonesinthesheets



Series: star trek [1]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Episode 1, F/M, M/M, spirk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-05 07:45:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11573550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jiminthestreets_bonesinthesheets/pseuds/jiminthestreets_bonesinthesheets
Summary: Hello!!So, fair warning, this story will be done as a series. so each fic will be posted as one episode with chapters and its gunna be a long trek, but i like it that way. I'm super excited to share this, i hope everyone likes it..."Jim's past was just that, his past, or so he thought. He had made it through to graduation and only had six months of placement standing between him and his captains chair, but he never thought he would see her again. He thought he was past this, past her, now what was he supposed to do? Could they really just go back to the way things were, will placement with her even be bearable, will the crew be able to stand together and face their newest foe and live to tell the tale? Jim could only hope, because right now that's about all hes got."





	1. Rielle

“Graduation tomorrow, Bones, can you believe it!” Jim smacked his friend in the chest as they strolled through the Academy halls, “And after summer we have six months of placement, the only thing currently standing between me and a ship. Once placement is finished then it’s space, space, nothing but space, sitting in my captains chair.”

Bones groaned beside him, the thought of being in space still haunting him all these years later, “space is disease and danger, wrapped in darkness and silence. We’ll be lucky if we don’t end up with Microbian Stephis, see if you're still bouncing around when you're bleeding from every organ you’ve got. And let’s hope we don’t come across Glorian Pink Eye, cuz I don’t wanna hear you complaining when you can’t see through you're swollen, puss filled eye balls.”

Jim laughed, turning to look at the scowling man beside him. “Bones, why did you ever signup for Starfleet?”

“I told you, the ex-wife took everything in the divorce, all I’ve got left-”

“Is your bones,” he finished for him with a smirk and a nod, “I know, Bones.”

Bones stopped walking, Jim turning to face him, “Well,” Bones said, crossing his arms, a hint of mockery in his voice, “if you’d listened that well in your Earth History class then maybe you would have passed with a better grade.”

“Earth history is boring.” And it was true, even Bones had to admit he hated that class just as much as Jim did. As a peace keeping planet, not too much happened on Earth.

“I know it was boring, but…” he sighed, wondering if he should even bring it up, “Jim, you're Pa is a major part of Earth’s history.”

He regretted bringing up the topic immediately as he watched as Jim’s bright, hopeful, ready to take on the universe attitude did a complete u-turn right before his eyes.

“I know,” he replied, suddenly finding something on the floor fascinating, before whispering, “I just wish he could have been part of mine.”

Bones was about to reach out, tell Jim he shouldn’t be upset but instead should be proud of his Pa, because if it wasn’t for him, Jim and so many others wouldn’t be alive today. But right before his arm made contact with Jim, his friend was shoved violently into him from behind, Bones catching him just before he hit the floor. 

He peered around Jim to see who had been able to shove him so hard to knock him almost clean off his feet, and was surprised to see a dirty blonde pony tail standing behind him. 

He pushed Jim off of him and continued to stare at this girl, unable to even comprehend the English language let alone speak it. He couldn’t see much of her face, for it was shoved nose deep in a PADD, but he could tell she was the most beautiful thing this side of the whole damn planet but… what should he say?! He had been married once before so he should know what to do by now… shouldn’t he?! 

Before he could manage to compose himself she began walking past them, not seeming to be the slightest bit bothered by what had just occurred. While all Bones could do was just stand there wide eyed while the cat had his tongue, Jim decided he was going to give her a piece of his mind.

“Hey!” he shouted, “Maybe you should get your nose out of that PADD and actually pay attention to where you're going! Damn near killed me!”

The girl turned, shifting her eyes away from her PADD and to Jim for a mere fraction of a second, before turning back.

When she looked at him, Jim became as stoic as Bones, there was something about this girl… but it couldn’t be, “It can’t be her,” he whispered, more to himself then Bones, “not after all this time, it…” he shook his head, fighting the back and forth in his mind, then decided to just go for it. He suddenly bolted, sprinting across the hallway leaving Bones behind. He raised a hand in the air as he ran towards her shouting, “Rielle!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Rielle, could you please assist me later on this evening in completing a laboratory experiment on the chemical attributes of the flora the U.S.S Hudson retrieved on their mission to Reverion last week?”

The dirty blonde turned slowly in her chair as her fingers slid gracefully over the PADD she had been stuck to for nearly three days now. Without removing her eyes from the screen she answered, “of course, Spock, when and where?”

“Laboratory B, at 1800 hours would be excellent.” 

“Sounds good,” though Spock wondered if she was actually listening to him. 

Before he could voice his concerns that she would leave him standing in the labs alone tonight, her comm went off. 

“Lieutenant Rielle,” she answered, still not removing her eyes from the object before her.

“Rielle, it’s Pike. Meet me in my office in ten, we have some last minute details we need to go over before tomorrows graduation.”

“Roger that!” Spock shook his head at her lack of restraint. Had she have been anyone else, the captain would have had her head for forgetting to add “sir” to the end of that reply.

She placed the comm in it’s holder on her belt and stood making way for the door. “Spock,” she turned, “I don’t know how long this meeting with Pike will take, but knowing that man, probably forever. Is there any way we could do the experiment tomorrow? Same time, same place?”

“I see no harm in waiting one more day, Lieutenant.” 

“Thanks, Spock.” And with that she was gone and practically running through the halls, which she would soon come to regret.

She was almost there, mere meters away from Pikes office, when some bozo decided it was a good idea to stop in the middle of the hallway. Right smack dab in her way. Now, it was partly her fault since she couldn’t tear herself away from the article on transwarp beaming she had been reading for three days, Montgomery Scott was a fine engineer indeed, but she would never admit to anyone that she was to blame for colliding with the idiot in front of her.

She decided now was not the time to get in a heated argument with the blond she almost knocked to the ground, hoping maybe that would be enough to perhaps knock some sense into him, and carried on past him. Apparently not.

“Hey!” he shouted, “Maybe you should get your nose out of that PADD and actually pay attention to where you're going! Damn near killed me!”

It took just about every inch of self control she had to not turn back and punch that mouthy son of a bitch in the face, but somehow she managed it. She turned, throwing a wave in his direction and making slight eye contact, and instantly wished she hadn’t. 

As soon as her eyes made contact with those baby blues, she knew. No one else in the entire galaxy could ever match that shade of blue, no one, and her suspicions where right when he called her name. 

“Rielle!” 

“Oh god, no…” she didn’t want to turn back, didn’t want this confrontation now, or ever again to be honest. Maybe if she just kept walking there was a chance he wouldn’t get to her before she could get to Pike’s office. Today, it seemed, was not her lucky day.

Steps away from the door the boy grabbed her arm, stopping her just before she opened it.

“Rielle!” she dropped her PADD to the floor hearing his voice, “Rielle… don’t you remember me? It’s Jim-”

He was stopped short by a sharp slap to the cheek as she turned to finally face him.

“Oh, I remember you Jim Kirk!” her face red with rage.

He let her arm go, pulling back a step to place a hand on his now burning cheek, “Still as fiery as ever, I see.”

“Screw you Jim! How dare you come up to me after all these years and act as if nothing happened! Did you think I would just forgive you? Did you think you could just walk up to me, strike up a conversation, and we could just step right back into where things left off?!” she paused to cross her arms, “you do remember how things left off, don’t you?”

“Rielle, I-”

She put a hand up, stopping him again, “Save it, Jim, I’ve got a meeting with Captain Pike, and now you’ve made me late.”

With that she opened the door and quickly closed it behind her. 

Bones, finally remembering that English was his native language, came to stand beside a still dumbfounded Jim. “What the hell was that all about? Why’d she hit you?”

“Because,” he replied mindlessly as he reached down to grab the PADD she had dropped at his feet, “I’m a huge idiot.”

“Yeah,” Bones sighed, “what else is new?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chris Pike looked up from his desk as his office door flew opened and quickly slammed shut. He was even more surprised by the fact that the blonde who rushed in also locked the door behind her. Unusual.

Without sparing her a second glance, he returned to his work and muttered mindlessly, “Everything alright, Rielle?”

“No!” she practically screamed, “I just bumped into Jim Kirk.”

“Jim Kirk?!” Chris abandoned his work, pushing it aside, “the Jim Kirk?! He's here?!”

“Yes, the Jim Kirk.” She peeled herself from her previous place leaning on the door and made her way to the chair in front of Chris’s desk, planting herself there. She put both feet on the desk in front of her, crossing her arms across her chest. “how did you not know he was at the Academy?”

“there are so many students here, I barely know any of them, and I rarely teach.” He raised a brow at her as she slouched further in her chair, attempting to read her as he then asked, “And how do you feel about Jim being at the Academy?”

“Angry,” she shook her head as she continued, “furious, upset, used, left behind, appalled, and did I mention angry? God, I'm so mad at him!”

Chris sighed, he knew everything there was to know about the history between Jim Kirk and Rielle. He knew there was so much to their past that meant the world to her, but what Jim did, he was never sure she could forgive though he had hoped she would should this day ever come. But if there was one thing in the universe that Chris Pike was absolutely sure on, it was just how stubborn he knew Rielle could be.

He pushed out from his desk and moved to sit on the corner beside her feet. He let out a small chuckled at her scornful expression before asking, “Well, did you tell him that?”

“Are you kidding me?!” she exclaimed, eyes wide, “after what he did, I think it’s quite clear he doesn’t care at all! About me, or anyone other then himself. Not to mention the fact that when I bumped into him and he finally realized it was me, he walked up to me as if nothing even happened. Does he think that I’m just going to forgive him and move on, just like that?!”

Yep, just as stubborn as always. “Rielle, I'm going to give you my honest opinion here, and I want you to listen to everything I have to say.” She nodded, urging him to continue, “Jim Kirk is, and always has been, your world. Maybe he was right to act as if nothing happened, maybe you two should just move forwards instead of looking backwards.”

Rielle scrunched her brows and sat forwards ready to argue but was cut off by Chris's hand. 

“Wait,” he stopped her, “listen to every word. Instead of brushing Jim off why don’t you see what he has to say? Maybe he has a good reason for what he did.”

“A good reason?!” that’ll be the day, she thought, “what good reason could he have for abandoning me?!”

“You’ll never know the truth unless you ask,” he shrugged.

“Well…” she sat back in the chair, staring straight, “what does one even say in a situation like this?”

“Hi,” he said simply, “nice to see you, I missed you, can we talk?”

“I don’t know,” she brought a hand up to her head resting it on her temple, “I don’t know if I even want to know what insane, hair brained excuse that giant idiot can come up with.”

“look,” he began, a stern look in his eyes, one she had seen many times, “I saw what he did to you, how badly he hurt you, and how it affected you even years after. The least he can give you is an explanation.”

“Yeah, I guess you're right.”

“Good,” he gave her shoulder a light tap before returning to his chair behind the desk, “now, we still have a lot to do before graduation tomorrow and I am panicking!”

She chuckled as she found comfort in the thought that some things never change. Sit Chris Pike in the captains chair and throw him into battle, and you'll witness the most well put together man the universe has ever seen, cool, collected, and confident. But ask him to do the simple task of organizing this year’s graduation and a chicken with its head cut off would look more organized then Chris. 

She reached out and took a small stack of papers from Chris, getting right to work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Good god, man!” 

Jim and Bones were sat across from each other in the cafeteria. Jim telling Bones all about the blonde from the hallway, while a stunned Bones listened with a mouthful of spaghetti hovering halfway between his mouth and his plate. 

“I can’t believe you did that?! I mean, I knew you didn’t have a heart, but come on!” He placed the fork on the plate, giving up on his food altogether, “I don’t think even a Klingon is that cold blooded, Jim.”

“Come on, Bones,” Jim slouched deeper in his chair, “I already feel awful about it, don’t make me feel worse.”

“Well you should,” he nodded at him, “pretty girl like that, you should feel worse then my Uncle Charlie after Thanksgiving dinner. And let me tell you, six helpings of turkey dinner washed down with an entire bottle of whiskey ain’t a pretty sight.”

Usually Jim found amusement in his friends’ metaphors, but not today. Today he sat across from Bones, his appetite completely vanished, and his usual Kirk charm nowhere to be found. All of his thoughts were on Rielle. 

Bones took the last bit of food off his fork and noticed that Jim’s plate remained unusually full, the kid had a black hole for a stomach he was sure, but instead he stared blankly at the table. “If it’s bothering you that much, would it kill you to try again?”

“No,” he slowly looked up to Bones, “but she might.”

He waved a hand at him, “I think you're overexadurating, Jim, she looks harmless.”

“Looks can be deceiving, Bones.” 

“Look,” he began, stern faced, “I say tomorrow, after the ceremony, you find her and apologize.”

Jim shook his head, “You don’t know her like I do. She won’t forgive me, I wouldn’t forgive me.”

“You might be surprised, Jim,” he took up his tray and turned away from the table before shouting back, “I'm sorry goes a long way”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jim and bones filed into the stadium with the rest of the graduating cadets. It was decorated in star fleet colours, complete with chair covers, banners, even balloons. Jim was impressed, so was Bones.

He let out a whistle as they entered the stadium, “You wouldn’t think it but the professors sure do know how to put on a good spread,” he nudged Jim as they went to find their assigned seats.

“Yeah,” he said as they came up on row 12E for Bones and 13G for Jim, turns out Jim’s seat was right behind Bones, “I just hope the foods good.”

“You not gunna ask your pretty friend to dinner after the ceremony?” Bones tried to make it sound like a tease but Jim knew it was a serious question.

“She might not even be here.” Jim thought back to his years at the academy. He had taken the mandatory courses but also chose to take on almost five times that of a normal course load as extra electives, and he had never seen Rielle in any of them. In fact, aside from yesterday in the halls, he had never seen her in the Academy, period. “She might not even be graduating. I don’t know what year she's in, or if she graduated already. I mean, before everything went down between us, she was talking about enlisting, so there’s a chance she's way ahead of us.”

Before Bones could give his two cents the lights dimmed and the stage before them lit up as their professors, captains, and admirals lined the stage before sitting on the chairs placed there for them. 

Bones turned back to Jim tapping his leg, and Jim leaned forwards, “Front row, second from the podium. There’s your pretty blonde.”

Jim gaped, wide eyed at the stage, “She's a teacher?!”

A man, who Jim recognized as Admiral Markus, came to the podium silencing the crowd before him, but Jim remained hunched forwards close to Bones as Markus spoke. “Welcome, everyone! Today we gather to celebrate the great minds of these wonderful people sitting here before us. Our future.” He gestured to the cadets below and the crowd gave a short cheer, “But I'm not going to take all the credit for this brilliant ceremony, and instead I will hand you over to Captain Pike, one of our most esteemed members of Starfleet. He singlehandedly organized this entire ceremony for you, so cadets, make sure you give Captain Pike your thanks on your way out. Over to you, Captain.”

Jim paled for the second time that night. He thought bumping into Rielle was bad enough, but this was worse. “Bones!” he whispered harshly while smacking his shoulder, “Bones!”

“What?!”

“I know him too!” he pointed to the man now standing at the podium.

“Seriously?! You think you know a guy,” he shook his head, “What did you do to him?”

“No, it’s not like that, he's-”

Jim was cut short in his explanation as Captain Pike began his speech, “Thank you, Admiral Markus. But, this is not about me, this night is about you. Your hard work and dedication has gotten you this far and let me tell you, it does not end here my friends. In fact, this is just the beginning. Now, I’ve had the pleasure of teaching some of you, and I use the word pleasure lightly here, looking at you Kurt Mccullen.” A small hoot was heard from somewhere to Jim’s right and the stadium erupted in a rumble of laughter. Jim shot his attention to the chair second to the left and watched as Rielle let a small smile escape. That smile, Jim thought, I missed it. “But honestly, in all my years as a teacher and captain, I have never known a better group of cadets. I am confident when I say that I know you were all meant for great things, and we all expect it of you. So, with that I will say congratulations on making it through and let’s kick this ceremony into full gear. If I could have row 1 please join me for your degrees.”

It took what felt to Jim like a lifetime before Captain Pike called row 13 to the front, but it finally happened. Bones passed him on his way back to his seat, giving him a “good luck” bump on his arm, and then it was Jim’s turn. He stood a few feet away from the stage, waiting for his name to be called, butterflies doing flips in his stomach. He couldn’t even look up as Captain Pike began to speak.

“And now, I call upon a cadet who…” Pike paused, turning to look back at Rielle for a brief moment before continuing, “Who I have known for a long time. Someone I, unfortunately, did not have the pleasure of teaching during his time here at the Academy, though someone who I am sure exceeded the expectations of his teachers, and will continue to do so as he ventures forth on whatever path he should choose. Cadet James T. Kirk, come on up and get your degree, son.”

Jim took the four small steps up to the podium and stood before Captain Pike. He looked Jim dead in the eyes, and for a moment Jim wasn’t sure what he would say, but what he did say left Jim a bit shocked, “Well son, despite everything, congratulations.” He took Jim’s hand, holding it between them, “I'm sorry I didn’t know you were enlisted in the Academy or I would have tried to contact you sooner, I…”

Pike noticed as Jim glanced at Rielle from the corner of his eye. She was standing with the other Academy Officials, trying very hard not to make any eye contact with him. Pike gave Jim’s hand one final squeeze before finally handing him his degree and saying with a pat to his shoulder, “Go on, son,” and nodding in her direction.

Jim couldn’t even speak, he didn’t know what to say. All he could do was nod and slowly make his way over to Rielle. He was standing in front of her, trying to think of what he could possibly come up with that wouldn’t make her hate him even more then she already does, when just as she was about to look up, a hand took her shoulder turning her away from Jim. 

He jumped out of his trance and looked to see some bowl cut, pointy eared guy behind her, now holding all of her attention. He shook his head, deciding that maybe right here on stage wasn’t the place to be harshly rejected in front of his entire graduating class, and made his way back to his seat behind Bones.

He plopped himself down hard with a huff as Bones leaned back to ask, “Didn’t go well, did it?”

“No!” Just my luck, he thought, “Who is that pointy eared bastard, anyways?” 

“Alright,” Pike began again before Bones could answer, “now that everyone has received their degrees and awards, there is one more item on the agenda that needs to be tended to. So, without further adieu, I would like to invite someone very special to the stage to present our last but perhaps our most prestigious award. I would like to invite Starfleet's very own head researcher, data analyst, science officer, engineer specialist, and all round go to girl, Rielle.”

“Wow!” Bones nodded as he watched her walk across the stage replacing Pike, “Pretty and smart.”

“I… I never knew she had accomplished so much.” 

Bones turned in his seat to face Jim completely. He leaned an arm on the back of his seat and sighed, “Well, Jim, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but, it’s kind of your own fault that you don’t know anything about her anymore.”

As Bones turned his attention back to the stage Jim couldn’t help but feel he was right. It was all his fault. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rielle stood, hands clasped in front of her, watching from the corner of her eye as Pike gave Jim his degree. All she wanted was for him to walk past her without so much as a second glance and take his seat in the sea of cadets. Then she saw his feet move, towards her instead of the stairs to her right. Panic swelled in her chest, her breathing escalated, and when his feet stopped moving right in front of her she thought she would pass out right there on stage. Rielle was a strong girl, there was hardly a conflict she couldn’t handle, but Jim Kirk was the one exception. 

She thought maybe it would be best to just get this over with. To give him what he wanted and talk to him, maybe then he would go away. Surely the interest he currently held in trying to talk to her would soon fade and she could go back to pretending he no longer existed. 

With a sigh she swallowed her pride and slowly began lifting her head to meet his eyes, when a god send grabbed her shoulder turning her completely away from Jim and she could not have been happier.

Her head snapped up to find Spock, hand still on her shoulder as she whispered, “Is he still there?!”

“He has returned to his seat.” 

“Thank god,” she clutched her chest, bending over slightly, “that was not something I wanted to deal with right now.”

Spock moved his eyes along the crowd, finding Jim almost directly in the center of the stadium, “That is him, correct? The man you told me of before?”

She nodded, “Yeah, that’s him.” She brought a hand up to ruffle the hair in her pony tail, “I thought he was gone Spock, I thought… I thought I would never see him again. Here I am only now getting over him, ten years later, and he shows up just to blow my emotions back into hyperdrive.”

“Perhaps,” he shifted his weight slightly and tilted his head to whisper only to her, “I should take on the form of human culture and offer my services should you need someone to, as you say, “give him a good beating””

She couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her lips. Rielle had known Spock for a long time now and was used to Spock being all Vulcan all the time, but whenever he let a little bit of human slip through the cracks of his hard Vulcan exterior, it made even the worst of days seem a little brighter. 

“I would like to invite Starfleet's very own head researcher, data analyst, science officer, engineer specialist, and all round go to girl, Rielle.” She tuned in just in time to catch the end of Pike’s speech and turned her head to the podium. Pike was gesturing her over to take his place.

“Well, that’s my cue,” she flashed the Vulcan a small smile and a wink before she left, “thanks, Spock.”

With a salute she replaced pike at the podium and faced the crowd. The stadium was completely full, not an empty seat to be found. Did it scare her to be in front of all those people giving a speech? No, not one bit, she lived for this. She just hoped that she could keep her wandering eyes at bay, should she dare to spy Jim in the crowd.

With one single breath, she placed her hands on the podium and began, cool, collected, and confident, “Thank-you, Captain Pike, and hello cadets, congratulations to you all. I am here to award a very special cadet with one of the Academy’s most distinguished awards. When I graduated the Academy eight years ago, I was honoured to receive thirteen awards in various subjects ranging from linguistics, to engineering, nuclear biology, xenoethics and culture, captaincy, ambassadorial introduction, and many others. I received the highest marks in the courses and received high praises from teachers and guests to our Academy on my high level of understanding in all areas of study. And that is what this award is all about. This award will be given to the cadet whom the staff have widely recognized as an all round achieving student, but instead of handing out thirteen awards, we have decided to join them together into one. 

Now, I do not know the name of the recipient of this award, only Admiral Markus holds that knowledge, but I have been told that this cadet is someone that everyone should aspire to be, should look up to. I am told that they excelled in all areas of study and continue, even now, to seek out new opportunities to further their knowledge and understanding of everything we stand for here at Starfleet. This cadet leaves here tonight with offers from not only Starfleet, but from outlying planets such as Ateron, Vulmencia, Draxus 9, and even Niam. They have received offers from various science academies, ambassadors, and have been hand picked by several captains here at Starfleet who would like to offer them a place on their ships. These include the U.S.S Galdor, Victoir, Gazine, as well as the Enterprise captained by Captain Pike, whose offer was submitted last night. This cadet clearly has a great future ahead of them, one that they deserve, and any of these offers would be a great path to follow. Though, I might suggest the Enterprise, it is after all the ship I will be serving on come summer and I would love to work with and get to know this amazing cadet. Now, I think we have left this cadet in enough suspense so, Admiral Markus,” she turned then, one hand outstretched towards the man in question, “may I ask for the envelope now, please?”

With a smile he stood, reaching a hand inside his jacket, and retrieving a small palm sized envelope handing it to Rielle.

“Thank-you, Sir,” she turned back to the crowd holding the envelope up slightly, “Inside this envelope holds the name of the very remarkable cadet I have had the absolute honour of speaking about tonight. I encourage you all, as fellow cadets, friends, and possibly future coworkers, to congratulate this cadet in their hard work and dedication that got them to where they are today. And so, the recipient of this years Starfleet Achievement award is…” she broke the seal of the envelope and slowly pulled the paper out. She could hear the anticipation in the air, the hope and desperation. She turned the small piece of paper over to reveal the name and instantly felt all the blood drain from her body, “James T. Kirk,” she whispered to herself. Well if someone was trying to make her day go from bad to worse, they did it. 

Realizing that all eyes were still on her she moved closer to the mic, regaining her cool, collected, and confident attitude that she normally held, and spoke, “The recipient is James T. Kirk.”

The crowd erupted into cheers and her head turned to her right as she saw Jim stand and begin making his way towards the stairs. Once he had made his way to stand before her, she steadied her breath and looked him dead in the eyes as she said without waiver, “James Tiberius Kirk, I am honoured to award you with the Starfleet Achievement award.”

He flashed her that James T. Kirk smile, the one that always used to bring her to her knees, and damn if she wasn’t feeling that now. After he took the award from her he held out his hand waiting for her to take it. Truthfully, she didn’t want to, but she knew what it felt like to be embarrassed in front of so many people. Reluctantly she took his hand, and the second she made contact with Jim she never wanted to let go again. It was like everything came rushing back and she realized just how much she truly missed him. Missed his smile, his charm, his whit. She missed scary movies in the dark, star gazing on the roof, staying up all hours of the night just to talk about nothing. She actually missed James T. Kirk. 

Before she could collect her thoughts and say anything else the crowd of cadets stood and suddenly they were standing under a cascade of graduation caps. She removed her hand from where it was still connected with Jim’s and took her chance to escape through the sea of people now making their way to the stage. Jim tried to grab her before she could but lost her faster then he could blink an eye. Bones found him then, and informed him that there was food being served in the main hall if he cared to join, to which Jim turned down. Normally, Bones would insist on a physical after personally witnessing Jim turn down food twice in less then twenty-four hours, but he knew why. He knew the rejection from the blonde was hitting Jim in a way that Bones didn’t quite understand yet, and he knew Jim just needed time.

With a clasp on the back Bones left and Jim stayed in the stadium, sitting on the edge of the stage watching as the crowd got smaller and smaller, until finally it was just him. 

Footsteps made their way towards Jim, slowly and cautiously. The clearing of a throat bought Jim out of his slump long enough to look up to the owner of the feet in front of him. 

“Rielle!”

She shifted nervously, not quite knowing what to say, then decided to follow some wise advice, “Hi,” she said quietly, almost so Jim couldn’t hear, “nice to see you, I missed you, can… can we talk?”

“Yeah,” he said, a bit shocked, “yeah of course.”

“Good,” she nodded, “coffee on Dunstan Street?”

Jim stood, a little too quickly almost sending himself flying off the stage. He wasn’t sure what this was, whether she was still angry, hurt, he didn’t know, but he did hope that this was a sign she was possibly willing to let it go and move forwards. Either way, he was willing to give it everything he had if it meant a small possibility of having her back in his life. 

He held an arm out, leading her towards the exit, and she allowed him to without struggle. Halfway across the stadium she tilted her head up to Jim, “Oh! And you're definitely buying.”

He stopped, staring at her with mock anger before bursting out laughing. Some things never change.


	2. Chapter 2

“Two large black coffee’s please.” The Andorian at the counter took Jim’s order and nodded as he turned to pour them. He had sent Rielle to find a table for them and went to pay for their drinks. 

The Andorian came back with two large cups in hand and passed them over the counter to Jim. He took them with a, “Thanks,” and strolled to the back of the store to find Rielle waiting in a booth. 

“Here is your coffee, my lady.” He smiled as he slid it across the table, sitting down.

She returned his smile and muttered, “Thanks,” as she wrapped both hands around the cup. 

Neither said anything for a moment, not really knowing where to start. Jim couldn’t handle the silence and took the first leap. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

She sat straight in her seat, eyebrows scrunched as she finally looked at him. “Jim… you know why I'm mad right?”

He sighed, “I have a pretty good idea.”

“Then why?” she shook her head, “Why did you leave, Jim?”

“I…” he thought back. He remembered everything about the day he left her. The date, the time, the place, and the reason. He should have told her, should have said something to her right then and there instead of vanishing like he had. “I never planned on leaving like that, believe me, that was not my first choice. But if we are being honest here, I left because I was scared.”

“Scared?!” Of all explanations she thought would come out of Jim’s mouth, that was not one of them, “Scared of what?”

“Of loosing you,” he let out shaky breath. He had ten years to get his act together and now it was time to take responsibility for his actions. “When we were camping ten years ago in Iowa, and you told me that when we got home you were leaving for Starfleet, I didn’t know what to think. I know that Starfleet was always something we had said we would do together, but we were only eighteen at the time. You seemed to have your whole life planned out and I could barely decide what I wanted for dinner that day, let alone plan out my future, and I wasn’t ready to enlist. I knew that as soon as we got back home I was losing you, and just like everyone else you would walk out of my life. I didn’t want to stand by and watch someone else I love leave.”

He paused for a moment, not able to make eye contact through his confession, though Rielle watched him with sorrow filled eyes the entire time. She had never known this was how Jim felt, and if she had then maybe she would have done things differently. 

“And so,” he continued, still not moving his eyes from the dark liquid in his cup, “I decided to leave first. I thought that if I left before you then technically I wasn’t loosing you, I was letting you go. I felt like I had more control over the situation that way, but believe me, it hurt like hell for me too.”

“I wish you would have told me, Jim,” the pang in her heart was becoming stronger with every second, “when I woke up the next morning to find your sleeping bag gone and you nowhere to be found I was devastated. All this time I blamed you when in reality it was my fault you left.”

“No,” he shook his head firmly, taking her hand across the table, “this was never your fault. I left because I didn’t want to watch you go. I’ve watched so many people walk in and out of my life, I didn’t want you to be another one.”

“Jim,” she squeezed his hand, “no matter where in the universe I was, I would have never left you. Do you think after everything we had been through that I would just completely leave you behind? I mean, from the minute you moved in next door we were best friends, you practically lived in my house, and we were never apart. And I had it all planned out. Even if you didn’t come to Starfleet with me I was going to call you every night, you could visit on weekends, we would have spent every holiday together like we always did. I wouldn’t have left you behind, Jim, or forgotten you, you were my best friend. But you left, so I thought you didn’t want that anymore, I thought you didn’t want to be friends, so I tried to let it go.”

“Tried?” he asked, with a bit of hope.

“Yes, tried,” she shifted her eyes away, “but I never really did. You moved in next door when we were five remember? And as soon as we met that was it for us, we were as close as siblings right from day one. I’ve never really known life without you and I couldn’t imagine it as such. I always hoped that you would come back, tell me you were sorry, and we would slip right back into being best friends, siblings, and after ten years that hope never died.”

“But you slapped me!”

She laughed, hearty and full for the first time in years, “Yeah, of course I did! Just because I said I never gave up hope doesn’t mean I wasn’t angry as hell. You deserved a good slap!”

Jim couldn’t help but laugh with her. Oh how he missed her, missed them together, he never should have left. “Well,” he said, after catching his breath, “I am sorry for leaving, and if it’s any consolation, I thought about you everyday.”

“It helps a little,” she smirked, crossing her arms.

“And look, I know that at the end I was a pretty terrible best friend,” she raised a brow, about to speak, but he stopped her before she could, “but, if you take me back, I promise I will never hurt you like that again. I never should have to begin with.”

She pursed her lips, “Promises are sometimes hard to keep, Jim. Do you think you can keep this one?”

“I know I can.”

“Alright then,” she took a sip from her cup, swirling it in her hands before speaking, “but we are going to take it slow, one step at a time, for now at least.”

“Fair enough.” They smiled at each other, glad to be somewhat back together again. 

“Hey, speaking of promises, do you remember the promise you made me when we were nine?” she tried hard to hide the smirk behind her cup. 

Jim thought back, scrunched his brows in concentration as he tried to remember, but that was a long time ago. Then his eyes widened and his smirk rivalled hers, “You mean the promise we made when we decided we wanted to join Starfleet?” she nodded, “I forgot about that. We promised each other that we would join Starfleet together and captain the same ship.”

Jim chuckled. They were definitely inseparable. 

“That’s the one,” she tilted her head giving Jim a look, “does that promise still stand?”

He shrugged his shoulders, “A promise is a promise.”

“Wouldn’t it be cool,” she thought, eyes lost in her thoughts of co-captaincy with Jim, “we would be the only co-captains in Starfleet history, we’d make the books for sure, and I think we would be kick ass co-captains.”

“Do you think the board would even allow it?” Jim had to admit, it did sound like an amazing idea. Even though it was a promise they made as nine year old kids it was always something he believed they could do. 

She pouted her lip in thought, “I don’t know. It’s never been done but I guess there is a first time for everything.”

“Ok then,” Jim shuffled, leaning closer to her over the table, “to restart this friendship on a positive note I say we make our second promise of the night. I, Jim Kirk, promise only to captain a ship if it is co-captained by Rielle.”

Jim raised his cup, waiting for her response, “And I, Rielle, promise only to captain a ship if it is co-captained by Jim Kirk.” She brought her cup up to Jim’s in a toast, solidifying their promise.

Jim laughed, almost spitting out the sip he took, and shook his head in amusement, “Man, we are one weird pair.”

“Got that right,” she leaned back in the booth eyeing Jim, remembering all the trouble they got into as kids, even as teens and wondered, “So, what happened to you after you left?”

“Well,” he began with a bit of hesitancy, “I uh… broke a few rules and became a mid-level offender.”

“What?!” she sat forwards, eyes wide. She wanted to say she couldn’t believe what he was saying but deep down she knew she could. After all, she was talking to James Kirk.

“Yeah,” he laughed as he leaned his elbows on the table, “it was a lot of bar fights, stole food once because I was broke and hungry, tiny bit of vandalism, and a few other small things. I was only arrested once though, and after five nights in jail I decided I should probably get it together and I enlisted the next day.”

She shook her head, “How did you even get into Starfleet?”

“Honestly I didn’t think I would.” He thought back to the worry he had when enlisting. He knew they did a full background check on all of their cadets and was worried that his troubled past would finally come back to bite him in the ass. “But, after I sent in my application I received a call from Admiral Markus himself. He didn’t say much, just that he wanted me to come to the academy and talk with him in his office. When I got there he told me that technically because of my criminal record he should have thrown my application in the trash, but since my aptitude tests were far beyond anything he had ever seen before he was willing to take a chance on me if I promised to straighten up, one strike and I was out. Haven’t been arrested since.” He finished with a smile and a wink and all she could do was laugh.

“Wow,” seemed to be the most she could say to express herself at the moment, “I knew you were trouble, Jim, but that is something else. You're lucky you got in.”

“No kidding! I don’t know where I would be now if Admiral Markus had said no.” 

“Knowing you, nose deep in intergalactic booze getting your ass handed to you at a sketchy bar,” she raised a brow and he nodded. She knew she was right, she knew Jim Kirk, sometimes more then she wished to admit.

“So what about you?” he raised both hands, “I know you enlisted in Starfleet after I left and received thirteen awards, if I remember correctly.”

“Yep,” she toyed with the empty cup in her hands, thinking back to her graduation.

“I knew you were smart, Rielle, but that’s amazing!”

“Sure,” she drawled, eyes fixed on the table now, “kind of sucked though.”

Jim frowned. He had received basically the same award as her and he was thrilled. Not only that but it opened up a lot of amazing opportunities for him, he could only imagine what it had done for her. “Why did it suck?”

“Well,” she began with a shrug, “my entire class despised my existence and the whole time I was on stage accepting the awards I was completely embarrassed because of it.”

“Where they mad because you received the majority of the schools awards?”

“No,” she shook her head, “they hated me because I turned a four year course into a two year course, fast tracked through the captaincy course, and took on a course load that rivalled yours. But everyone in the academy thought that the only reason why I was able to do that was because my father is an admiral of Starfleet.” 

Jim was stunned, “Your dad’s an admiral?!”

“Yes,” she smiled, pride in her eyes, “he received the promotion a year after you left.”

“Well, congratulations to your father!” he nodded, still a bit stunned, “I know that he was gunning for that spot for a long time, glad he finally got it. I never dealt with any other admiral besides Markus so I had no idea your father was still at Starfleet. When we were younger he used to get offers from all over the galaxy, figured he’d eventually take one.”

“I don’t think he’ll ever leave,” she shook her head, “He's had a few offers from outlying planets but I think he loves the academy too much.”

“Not a bad place to be.” She had to agree. 

“Anyways,” she continued, “I tried to keep my last name a secret and used my mother’s maiden name when I first joined, but someone eventually figured out who I was and then everyone knew. And that was that, just radio silence.”

“I'm… I'm sorry,” and he truly was, though he was sure he would never be able to fix the now growing hole of guilt in his gut.

“You should be!” he winced, knowing she was right, “not only did I speak to no one while I was enrolled, but when I walked across the stage at graduation to accept my degree and awards, not a single one of my classmates clapped. At least you had the support of your peers, all I had was angry jealous rage thrown my way. It was the most embarrassing fifteen minutes of my life.”

Jim lowered his head. He hadn’t realized the damage he had put her through when, after countless years of friendship, he decided to disappear. He thought at the time it was for the best. She had her future laid out before her, crisp and clear, and Jim didn’t want to mess that up for her. Turns out he had done just that. 

“I didn’t know things would be that bad for you,” he began, “and I'm sorry I never made it to your graduation. I thought about looking you up, but I didn’t want to interfere or make things worse.”

“It’s fine,” she shook it off, not wanting to relive anymore of those times, “but it’s in the past now, so lets just forget everything and move on.” He smiled in agreement as she continued, “So in current events I now do a lot of research for the academy, I’m head of that department, my friend is head of the science department so I help him with his experiments, I analyze Starfleet data, work in the engineering bay part time teaching cadets, but I will be leaving all that behind come summer when I will finally be serving on a ship. It was worth the wait but the Enterprise is finally finished! Oh, and I also lost my PADD the other day, which sucks because even if I get a new one I will have no way of getting back everything I had saved on my old one, and that’s pretty much everything you missed.”

“Speaking of which,” he turned and reached a hand into the small shoulder bag he had brought with them. He placed the PADD Rielle had dropped during their first encounter on the table and slowly slid it across to her.

Her eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store when she saw the all to familiar burn in the top right corner from an accident in the labs… maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to bring that to an unstable chemical reaction test. 

“Where did you find this!?” she lifted it from the table turning it in her hands. She turned it on and instantly began searching through everything she thought she had lost. Recent data findings, lab hypothesis and results, science articles, symposiums, lecture notes, it was all still there and she couldn’t have been happier.

“You dropped it,” he said as he scratched the back of his neck, “outside the captain’s office after you almost killed me. Which reminds me, I’ve been wondering what exactly it was you were reading that had you so entranced you couldn’t watch where you were going?”

“Hey! It’s not my fault you decided to stop mid hallway.” She smirked and quickly ran her fingers over the PADD before turning it to face Jim, “I was reading this article on transwarp beaming by Montgomery Scott. He went to the academy but we never crossed paths, but his work in engineering is phenomenal, Jim. I didn’t believe that transwarp beaming was even a thought let alone a possibility until I read this! And the best part is that come the summer he will be serving on the Enterprise! I'm hoping to introduce myself while we are serving together, maybe get him to give me some pointers in engineering, talk about his article a little, but I’m a bit nervous.”

“Well,” he began as he pushed the PADD down to see her face, “you won’t have to be nervous. Lucky for you I know Montgomery Scott and I’ll introduce you to him myself.”

“Seriously?!” she was a bit sceptical, but also slightly hopeful.

“Yes,” he chuckled at her raised brow, “We met through mutual friends, he's actually a really nice guy, and also willing to talk engineering to anyone who will give him an ear. As soon as we’re on board I’ll introduce you, I have a feeling you two will get along great.”

“Jim, that would be amazing!” she reached both hands across the table and took Jim's, squeezing them, “and I guess this means you’ve decided to accept Pike’s offer for placement on the enterprise?!” 

He nodded and looked to their hands with a smiled, squeezing back, “and while we’re at it, I have someone else to introduce you to.”

“Who?” she asked as Jim stood from the booth and she followed suit.

“Just a close friend of mine,” he swung an arm over her shoulder, just like he would have in their youth, and she wrapped hers around him, “if I don’t introduce him to the pretty blonde he hasn’t stopped talking about for two days, he might hypo me into a coma.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two hours later found her out of her Starfleet regulation clothes and all gussied up in a very tight, very short black dress Jim had pulled from her closet after coffee earlier. He had taken her to a restaurant just down the road from her apartment on campus and said his friend would meet them there. After six near misses in her over the top five inch heels, which Jim also picked out, he finally sat her at a table.

“Oh my god,” she mumbled as she took the heels off under the table, “these shoes are ridiculous! I don’t even know why I have them, I can barely walk in them. I had hundreds of flat shoes in my closet, why did you pick these ones?”

He smirked, looking around the restaurant, “Just wanted you to look your best.”

“This is about your friend, isn’t it?” She knew it was. Jim Kirk, always the match maker.

“I just hope he dresses in something nice too.”

“Jim,” he absently hummed still looking around, “does he even know I'm here?”

“Uh…” before he could give her a straight answer he jumped from his seat at the table waving his arms, “Bones!”

Rielle turned in her chair towards the entrance and couldn’t help but stare. The man that waved back at Jim was strikingly handsome, she had to admit. She slightly remembered that dark tousled hair from her first meeting with Jim, but was only now getting a good look at what she missed that day. Chiselled cheek bones lay beneath the most captivating green eyes she had ever seen. And that smile, it was something gods would be jealous of she was sure, and it certainly had her stomach in knots. But if there was one thing she was certain she would never say in her life, it was that stubble had never been so sexy!

She turned a little more in his direction as he got closer, until he finally laid eyes on her sitting across from Jim and stopped cold a few from the entrance. Yeah, Jim had definitely decided to leave out the fact that she was coming to dinner. 

She turned back to Jim with a worried look on her face, “He looks like he's stopped breathing!”

He quickly removed himself from the table holding a hand out to her as he passed, “I’ll be right back.”

Jim made it to the door just in time to grab Bones before he had a chance to walk right back out. He turned his friend towards him and held him there by his shoulders, “Bones, where are you going?”

“Home, Jim, that’s where!” Jim knew that look and tone all too well, but by this point also knew how to handle it, “You didn’t tell me she was coming, or that she was going to look like that! Look at me Jim! I'm wearing a torn leather jacket, blue jeans, and cowboy boots, that’s no was to be dressed when meeting a lady!”

Jim tried desperately to hold back a chuckle. He had known Bones for a long time now and never had he seen him care about his appearance. “Bones, honestly, she's not like that. She won’t care how you're dressed. Just give it a chance, will ya?”

“I-”

“Great!” Before Bones could protest, Jim had him by the wrist and was dragging him over to the table. He pushed Bones down into the seat across from a stunned Rielle and stood beside the table, “Rielle, this is Bones. Bones, this is Rielle.”

“Hi…” he shot his hand up in a half wave, just as quickly hiding it under the table before continuing to stutter every word, “I'm Bones, just like Jim said, though that’s not my real name. It’s actually McCoy, Leonard McCoy, but you can call me Bones if you like, or Leonard, or Len, or whatever floats your boat.”

She couldn’t resist the smile, she had never met anyone cuter then Leonard McCoy. “I like Bones,” she pointed out, “and I'm Rielle, just Rielle, no nicknames.”

Bones couldn’t say anything, he didn’t know what to say. He knew it had been a while since his marriage but, had he really forgotten how to do this already?

“Ok,” Jim clapped his hands trying to ease the tension, “I'm going to go get some drinks from the bar and then we can order something when I get back.”

Both Bones and Rielle raised their hands in protest, but Jim purposefully ignored them and left the two alone at the table. Awkward silence didn’t do the situation justice.

“So, Rielle,” Bones cleared his throat, trying very hard to hide the fact that his voice just jumped six octaves, “Jim told me that you enlisted when you were eighteen, why’d you decide to join?”

“Well,” she began, glad someone had the nerve to start up a conversation, “my father is an admiral of Starfleet.”

“Really?!” his brow shot up, impressed, he was also now slightly terrified, even more so then he already was.

She nodded, “And his father before him, and his father. My father’s side of the family have all been admirals, so that’s part of the reason. The main part though is that I am the first girl born to my father’s bloodline. I guess I not only felt an obligation to enlist but also a need to prove to my family and myself that even though I am a girl I can still carry on the legacy of my father’s family.”

“And I'm sure you will.”

“I hope so,” she nodded, admiring his smile despite the butterflies it gave her being so close, “My father never had any doubt but I needed to do this for my own pride.”

They fell into silence again before she decided to break the ice this time, “So how about you? Jim tells me you left home and became a medical officer for Starfleet, why did you leave Georgia?”

He sighed, his entire demeanour changing almost instantly from cute and dorky to a bit dark, “That has everything to do with my wife.”

She sank in her chair slightly, “Your… wife?” Jim hadn’t mentioned anything about his friend being married…

“I guess ex-wife now.” He corrected himself, shifting forwards a bit, placing his arms on the table. 

“Oh,” she perked up, leaning in to listen to the rest of his story.

“Yeah, she wasn’t happy in our marriage anymore, thank god we didn’t have any kids,” he shook his head only imagining the headache that would have been and how unfair it would have been for a child to be in the middle, “but marriage can be messy sometimes.”

“That it can,” she agreed.

“I guess I just didn’t have the right girl,” he flashed her a small smile, bringing back that happier southern charm he had before, “What about you? Married? Kids… boyfriend?” he asked, trying to hide the hope laced into his question.

She shook her head, “No, not yet at least, just waiting for the right man to come along.”

She shot him a wink and grinned as he turned away from her, trying very hard and failing to hide the blush creeping up his cheeks and down his neck. But before they could talk about it anymore Jim returned with a tray full of drinks and plopped himself in the empty chair beside Bones.

“So,” he began as he passed out the drinks, “are we getting to know each other?”

Bones and Rielle smiled at each other across the table. Jim couldn’t have been happier that two of his best friends were getting along, maybe his plan could work after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, i hope you liked the new chapter!  
> Bones is coming into play a bit more now, and hes super dorky around Rielle! <3  
> I also changed his back story a bit, with him not having a daughter, but that comes into play later :)
> 
> Anyways, more to come soon! already working on chapter 3!! Let me know what you think :D
> 
> And this ones for you Quiet Ryter <3

**Author's Note:**

> Well, that's chapter one, chapter two is almost completed so look for an update soon!
> 
> I hope everyone liked and and liked my addition of Rielle! Bad ass stuff coming from her soon!!
> 
> Let me know what you think :D


End file.
